Ask HN: Do your eyes bug you even though your prescription is "correct"?

If you're over 40 and have been wearing glasses for years, you might now need a pair with a weaker prescription just for computer use.

Or progressives (aka bifocals.)

I have a prescription for "office glasses" which have been great.

+1 - computer glasses especially as presbyopia sets in (around age 40) are surprisingly not well known. this has been a huge help for me.

What about computer glasses?

I have progressives and computer glasses.

If I accidentally wear the progressives at my desk, I usually notice within half an hour that I'm not comfortable.

With the computer glasses, everything is clear (including my laptop screen, which is below my monitor).

What's the reasoning behind being over 40? I recently complained to my optometrist that I was having a harder time seeing things up close and he prescribed me weaker lenses for work/reading. My regular prescription is right around -7 in both eyes. I'm not over 40.

Presbyopia - the lens in our eyes begin to harden at age 40, making it harder for our eye muscles to "squeeze" the lens to focus. Presents itself as blurriness and eye strain. We usually encounter a change in our Rx during this time too, sometimes needing a weaker Rx (counterintuitively).

Would love to chat about your experience in any case. I'm at jbornhorst [at] gmail.com if interested.

Most people get this after 40. Some people get it earlier.

Presbyopia: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/presbyopia/sy...

  Presbyopia usually becomes noticeable in your early to mid-40s and continues to worsen until around age 65.

If you're much younger than 40, maybe google "early onset presbyopia".

Not OP, but would like to try it. How much weaker? And should I weaken the cylinder strength as well?

Don't trust random strangers on the internet!

You should ask a qualified or licensed optometrist or optician or whatever it's called wherever you live.

AIUI:

- you don't adjust CYL

- The amount you add is roughly 0.75, plus an extra 0.05 for each year above 40yo.

For example, at age 50:

Add = 0.75 + 0.05 × (50 − 40) = 0.75 + 0.5 = 1.25

So let's say that this person's regular glasses are -3.25 in each eye. Their computer glasses would be -2.00 in each eye.

Don't trust random strangers on the internet!

My optometrist set the adjustable lenses to what he thought was in the right ballpark and then had me read the chart at my requested distance for the computers lenses. A few adjustments, and done. They're perfect! Bonus: text is a bit bigger now, and I can read smaller fonts than I could before getting computer glasses.

The downside of this is that I now find it very difficult to read computer screens and my phone while wearing my distance lenses. The practice of holding things further away to be able to read them always was, I suppose, inevitable.